Shocking cases of domestic violence are leading young Chinese to question marriage

By Nectar Gan, CNN A series of high-profile domestic violence cases in China, including a killing carried out in broad daylight that was captured on video and circulated widely on social media, has sparked outrage – and reignited a debate among young people about the pitfalls of marriage. The killing in the eastern province of Shandong… Read More Shocking cases of domestic violence are leading young Chinese to question marriage

Succession on the Tibetan plateau: what’s at stake in the battle over the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation?

John Powers In China, a group of atheists (the Chinese Communist Party) has long dictated how the country’s religious groups should practise their faiths. Chinese Christians are told to reject salvation by faith and the Resurrection; their core beliefs should be patriotism and love of the party. The party has also published several pamphlets detailing appropriate beliefs and practices… Read More Succession on the Tibetan plateau: what’s at stake in the battle over the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation?

An Open Letter to the world on the Bangladesh crisis of 1971

First posted Tuesday, April 09, 2013 Letter from Members of the CPI (ML) See the facsimile of the original here: http://www.sacw.net/article4164.html Explanatory Note 1./ This is an open letter I wrote in December 1971, as a Naxalite cadre (among many) who experienced the political crisis accompanying the disintegration of Pakistan in 1970-71. It was anonymous, and I was the… Read More An Open Letter to the world on the Bangladesh crisis of 1971

Written on Water

Eileen Chang is one of the most celebrated modern Chinese novelists and essayists of the twentieth century. First published in 1944, and just as beloved as her fiction in the Chinese-speaking world, Written on Water collects Chang’s reflections on art, literature, war, urban culture, and her life as a writer and woman in wartime Shanghai and Hong… Read More Written on Water

How one man went from China’s Communist party golden child to enemy of the state

Xu Zhiyong’s dream is for China to become a democratic country that is “beautiful, free, fair and happy.” It is a simple wish, yet in the eyes of the authorities, his vision is dangerous and subversive. The 50-year-old human rights lawyer and champion of social equality was sentenced to 14 years in jail earlier this month, along with fellow… Read More How one man went from China’s Communist party golden child to enemy of the state

Juan Cole: The Meaning of Historic China-Brokered Deal Between Saudi Arabia and Iran

A major shift in global relations has recently transpired. To some in America, it may look like the second coming of the Evil Empire. Too much of the rest of the world, it’s a welcome chance for a renewed multipolar order, where the sovereign desires of nations are respected and new collaborations can be established.… Read More Juan Cole: The Meaning of Historic China-Brokered Deal Between Saudi Arabia and Iran

The Figure of Socrates and its Significance for Liberal Education in Asia

NB: An interesting essay. However, Heyking seems to conflate China and ‘Asia’. DS John von Heyking In order to cut through the two false alternatives – “catch up” and “social harmony” – I appeal to the original figure of Western liberal education, Socrates. Socrates indeed embodies the individual as it has been transmitted throughout the… Read More The Figure of Socrates and its Significance for Liberal Education in Asia

Matt Sheehan: Silent documentary on China’s unspooling environmental disasters

First posted January 26, 2016 The 2015 film “Behemoth” opens with an mining explosion and closes with a ghost city. The 84 minutes in between are a wordless exploration of what connects the two — the environmental tragedy that has mirrored China’s economic miracle. Shot over several years in the Chinese provinces of Inner Mongolia and Shaanxi,… Read More Matt Sheehan: Silent documentary on China’s unspooling environmental disasters

‘We just want to live in a normal world’: China’s young protesters speak out, and disappear

‘Blank Paper movement’ decrying government policies rekindles dissent after Xi Jinping’s decade of iron-fisted crackdowns. Support the Chinese peoples struggle for democracy! A 25-year-old woman who had been interrogated by police after protesting in south China tells the Guardian that even though she is frightened by police, the protests have radicalised her as she has… Read More ‘We just want to live in a normal world’: China’s young protesters speak out, and disappear